The good thing about a large corporation owning many different companies is that all those brands can benefit from shared resources. Take Alfa Romeo, for instance. They needed an engine for the new Spider they are building jointly with Mazda. So they went to their parent company Fiat, who then ordered their in-house tuner Abarth to hook up Alfa with a juicy 1.4 liter four-pot.  

Nobody expected the new Alfa Romeo Spider to get anything but a four-cylinder engine, so it’s a good thing that they’ve gone for one of the very best available right now. The 1.4 liter turbocharged MultiAir unit makes 160 horsepower and around 170 pound-feet of torque in the Fiat 500 Abarth. It also powers the range-topping version of Dodge Dart, which is an Alfa Guilietta underneath.

It is not known yet what sort of power the 1.4 makes in the Alfa Spider, but the engineers have to adapt it for longitudinal installation, seeing as the new sports car will be rear-wheel-drive. The engine is known for its great feel and responsiveness, as well as an amazing soundtrack uncharacteristically lively for a 1.4 liter turbo. It can also be easily tuned to deliver well over 200 horsepower.

The new Alfa Romeo Spider will share its chassis and suspension with the next Mazda MX-5, but gets its own exterior, interior and powertrain. Alfa’s car is said to employ additional weigh-saving measures compared to the Japanese counterpart for extra agility and driving fun.

Via Car&Driver